Display carton



Patented Nov. 10, 1942 EFHQE DISPLAY CARTON John Edward Messer, Cincinnati, Ohio Application February 17, 1941, Serial No. 379,223

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a shipping carton, and particularly to one of the rugged and substantial corrugated board type, improved i such manner as to serve the purpose of a, bin or container to pleasingly display the contents of the carton, while at the same time rendering the contents readily accessible directly from th shipping car ton.

An object of the invention is to obviate the need for removing the contents or merchandise from its shipping carton and repacking them in a display container or bin for sales or dispensing purposes.

Another object is to provide a shipping carton of the character stated, which may be manufactured inexpensively using commonly available carton machinery, and materials which are standard and procurable on the market.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shipping and display carton having the advantages stated, but which is so built as to require no alteration in present day methods of filling and handling on the part of the packer.

The foregoing and other objects are attained by the means described herein and disclosed in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a carton embodying the invention, the carton being sealed in closed condition.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing one side of the carton opened elsewhere than at the closing flaps, in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the improved carton blank.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of a fragment of sealing strip utilized in the improved carton.

Fig. 6 is a front view of the Fig. 2 carton standing in the use position, the displaceable access door being fully open.

In the accompanying drawing is illustrated a shippin carton of the kind formed from heavy corrugated cardboard, said carton being constituted of the following parts: a pair of top inner flaps 2-2, a pair of top outer flaps or sealing flaps 33, a pair of bottom inner flaps 5-4, a pair of bottom outer flaps 5-5, a side panel 6, an opposed side panel i, an end panel or front wall 8, and an opposed end panel or rear wall 9. These parts or elements and their relationship to one another are clearly illustrated in the blank 9r ayout of Fig.3.

Y flap 3 and the As will be observed from the disclosure of Fig. 3, the cardboard blank in its entirety is rectangular and standard as to shape. The side panels 6 and l, and the end panels 8 and 9 are in line, and meet each other along the scores Hi, II and i2. By means of a pair of parallel score lines IS, the end panel or front wall 8 is separated from the top inner flap 2 and the bottom inner flap 4. The side panel 7 is separated from the top outer bottom outer flap 5 by the score lines 14. The end panel or rear wall 9 along its longitudinal edges is scored along the lines I 5 for defining the top inner fiap 2 and the bottom inner flap 4.

At the extreme right of Fig. 3, it will be seen that the side panel 6, instead of being scored along its longitudinal side edges, i completely severed from the adjacent top outer flap 3 and bottom outer flap 5. Flaps 3 and 5 are severed also from the adjacent top inner flap 2 and bottom inner flap 4 respectively.

A connection is made between the side panel 6 and its adjacent flaps 3 and 5 by means of the longitudinal sealing strips i6 and il which verlap margins of the longitudinal side edges of side panel 6 and its adjacent panels 3 and 5. These sealing strips are adhesive coated, as indicated at l8 of Fig. 5 and the body portions 59 thereof are preferably of tough and relatively indestructible material, for example, a fabric or a very tough long fibre paper. When sealing strips such as I6 or I? are adhesively applied to the meeting edges 20 and 2| of adjacent panels, they serve as hinges whereby the top and bottom outer flaps 3 and 5 may be turned at right angles to the side panel 6 for closing the carton as indicated by Fig. 1. Referring again to Fig. 1, the character 22 indicates a third sealin strip which is shorter, but otherwise similar .to sealing strips l6 and I1, and which fastens the free edge 23 of said panel 6 to an adjacent marginal portion of end panel or front Wall 8.

Referring now to Fig. 2, it should be clearly apparent that removal of the adhesive sealing strips it, E! and 22 permits hinging of the side panel 6 about its score line l2 for the purpose of providing a hinged access door. As will be appreciated, the provision of the hinged access door, which results from merely removing the tough sealing strips from the three marginal edges of side panel is a much simpler operation than thatof attempting to gain access to the carton by tearing away or disassociating the pair of flaps 3-3 from the pair of flaps 2-2 which are ordinarily glued or stapled togetherby the packer,

Moreover, the shipping carton opened in the manner illustrated by Fig. 2, may be stood on its side panel I which serves as a bottom when the carton is disposed in the Fig, 6 position with the access door or opposed side panel 6 projected upwardly. Thusly disposed, the panel 6, which originally was a side of the box becomes a lid and may therefore be printed or otherwise decorated with advertising material or identifying indicia upon its inner face 24. The result of this arrangement is that the contents of the shipping carton need not be removed therefrom and placed in a display bin, or display container, for sales or dispensing purposes but may instead be allowed to remain within the original shipping carton since the carton treated in accordance with the invention performs very satisfactorily as a display bin or container.

It is immaterial whether the adhesive material of the sealing strips be of the type which remains tacky at all times or a glue that dries hard, the one essential thing being that the strip material be sufficiently durable and tough to enable peeling thereof from the carton without tearing the strips. Since all edges of the top outer panel 3 and the bottom outer panel that flank the side panel 6 are machine cut, the edges at the access opening of the carton shown in Fig. 6 will be smooth and therefore presentable in appearance. Similarly, smooth edges will be formed upon the longitudinal side edges 2|, and the free edge 23, of the access lid which initially formed a side panel of the shipping carton.

In practice, the shipping carton will be shaped, packed, and sealed in the usual way, that is, by bending the blank along the several score lines H], II, and 12,. then placing the edge 23 in meeting relationship to the edge 25 whereupon the sealing strip 22 is applied for maintaining a rectangular position of the carton body. Thereafter the bottom inner flaps 4-4' are turned toward one another at right angles to all of the sides and ends of the carton and this action is followed by turning inwardly the bottom outer flaps 5-5 upon the turned inner flaps 4- i as is best shown in Fig. 2. The flaps 4-4 and 5-5 are joined and held in place either by means of an adhesive or glue, or by means of staples or other mechanical fasteners. Periormance of the operations just mentioned places the carton in condition for packing it with merchandise, since the top fiaps 3-3 and 2-2 will be upstanding. After the carton has been packed with merchandise the flaps 2-2 are turned inwardly toward one another, then by turning inwardly upon them the outer top flaps 3-3, and these overlapping flaps are thereupon perma nently joined together by means of an adhesive or other suitable fastening expedient. As is well-known, access to the contents of such a shipping carton, in the absence of the means of the present invention, is a laborious, time consuining operation due to the difficulty of breaking the seal existing between fiaps 3-3 and 2-?.. However, by reason of the improved structure herein disclosed access may be had by merely peeling oil the strips Iii, l1 and 22, which frees the side panel 6 and converts it to an access door which may be opened without effort in accordance with the disclosure of Figs. 2 and 6.

The blank from which the present shipping carton is formed may be produced by existing standard box machinery, andthe' cost of adding the improvements of the invention is so slight as to be practically negligible. It should be understood, moreover, that complete severence of the top outer flap 3 and the bottom outer flap 5 from side panel 6 is not an absolute necessity, as a narrow web may be permitted to remain when the cuts 20 and 2| are made, for temporarily or weakly holding the fiaps 3 and 5 relative to the side panel 6 until application of the sealing strips l6 and I! can be effected. Such webs would be formed at the extreme ends of the lines of cut Ell-2i, at opposite side edges of the panel 6, and the web would be of such narrow width as to be easily ruptured upon attempted displacement of the panel 6 to the partially open position of Fig, 2.

It is to be understood that various other modifications and changes in the structural details of the device may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

From the foregoing it should be evident that i have provided an improved carton which possesses the necessary substantiality for shipping purposes, while at the same time providing efiectively for attractive display of its contents upon reaching its destination. The carton is inexpensively manufactured, easily packed, andmay be opened quickly without the aid of tools and without injury to the fingers and finger nails of the recipient. The easel formed by the panel 5, and the die-cut edges of the panels exposed when the easel is set up, serve to enhance the appearance of the display. Unlike the known forms of shipping cartons, that of the present invention may be opened as easily and quickly as a container equipped with a so-called zipper or slide fastener of conventional design. This latter advantage is to be considered one of the most important objects of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A shipping carton of corrugated board adapted for the display of merchandise, which comprises in combination, a pair of rectangular side panels one of which has three free edges portions and a hinge portion whereby to form a hinged access door, a pair of opposed rectangular end panels normally forming with the side panels a cubical enclosure, a pair of opposed top inner flaps hinged each to an upper edge of an end panel for movement into a common plane at right angles to the end panels, a pair of opposed bottom inner flaps hinged each to a lower edge of said end panels for movement into a different common plane at right angles to the end panels, a top outer flap and a bottom outer flap hinged to opposed upper and lower edges of that side panel which has no free edge portions, said top and bottom outer flaps being relatively movable to and fixed to the top inner and the top outer flaps respectively, in fiatwise overlapping relationship, an initially detached outer top flap and a similar detached outer bottom flap, the former being fixed in spanning relationship to the top inner flaps in close proximity to the free" edged side panel, and the latter being similarly fixed and located relative to the bottom inner fiaps, and a plurality of sealing ribbons adaptedto be bodily stripped from the carton after shipment, one length of such ribbon serving to join the initially detached outer top flop marginally to one free edge of the hinged side panel, another such lengthof ribbon serving to join the initially detached outer bottom flap marginally to the opposite free edge of the hinged side panel,

v an open display position without displacement of any of the carton flaps.

2. A blank for the production of a shipping 10 and display carton, which blank comprises in combination an elongated sheet of cardboard or the like having opposed end portions and an intermediate portion, the intermediate portion consisting of a side panel and an end panel hinged together endwise, a top outer flap and a bottom outer flap hinged to the side panel at opposite edges of the latter, a top inner flap and a bottom inner flap hinged to the end panel at opposite edges thereof, a second end panel hinged endwise to the side panel aforesaid at one end portion of the blank, and a top inner flap and a bottom inner flap hinged to said second end panel at opposite edges of the latter, a second side panel at the other end portion of the blank and hinged endwise to the first mentioned end panel of the intermediate portion of the blank, said second side panel having a free end and 0pposed free longitudinal edges aligned with the hinges of the series of flaps, a series of displaceable tough gummed sealing strips one along the margin of each of the free edges and the free s end of the second side panel, an initially separate top outer flap hinged to one of the opposed free edges of the second side panel by means of a gummed sealing strip, and an initially separate bottom outer flap hinged to the other of the opposed free edges of the second side panel by means of another gummed sealing strip, the remaining sealing strip being adapted to temporarily join the free end of the second side panel to that end panel which is located at the opposite end of the blank.

JOHN EDWARD MESSER. 

